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PARAGRAPH VI. 



LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND. 



The law of supply and demand does not hold good in con- 

 structive forestry. 



Wood is the only commodity used by mankind the production 

 of which requires not years but decades of years. A high price 

 of timber will improve the remunerativeness of constructive for- 

 estry only at a time at which the mature forests are nearly 

 exhausted. Can we expect that the high price of the commodity 

 will stimulate its production at that time? The production of 

 timber requires from 40 to 50 years at the very least. Will private 

 enterprise fill a gap in the supply, invited by high prices when 

 40 or 50 years would be required to fill it? The history of the 

 Mediterranean countries, and also of England seems to prove that 

 the gap in the local timber supply is never filled by private 

 enterprise, in spite of the stimulus afforded by the high prices 

 of wood goods. 



The law of supply and demand, in other words, is apt to fail 

 in the case of constructive forestry. 



A soil bare of forests, or kept bare of forests for a long time 

 resists afforestation. The removal of the forest invites a compli- 

 cation of natural phenomena not fully understood by man, a 

 complication antagonistic to the forester attempting to afforest. 



In addition, the present generation dislikes to carry a heavy 

 burden for the benefit merely of succeeding generations. 



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